


The Crowd

by purglepurglepurgle



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Angst, Dark Satire, Darkfic, Depressing, Gen, Horror, Ragefic, dark humour, politics why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21784006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purglepurglepurgle/pseuds/purglepurglepurgle
Summary: Rufus' inauguration speech. Taken seriously. Just me transparently ranting through fic.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	The Crowd

**Author's Note:**

> If you're feeling fragile, skip this one; ie: if you're in a 'politics? fuck no!' mood, backspace backspace backspace. I may delete this; not sure if it just detracts from the world. I'm not really a font of positivity rn. Lmk if it's just depressing. May also feel compelled to write something about interactions between sociopaths and mining towns...

"Thank you all for joining me today," said Rufus, on the Junon podium. Tseng stood behind him, scanning the inauguration crowd for threats, unable to concentrate. He hadn't heard the speech in full, yet, but they'd all heard the rumours about the new President.

"Today," Rufus continued, "heralds the dawn of a new era, for Shinra and for every loyal Shinra citizen. We will take back what is ours-- take it back from the so-called experts; from the self-righteous bleeding-hearts; from the elites who are keeping us down."

The people cheered. Tseng idly wondered what there was left for Rufus to take back, given his starting position was 'President of the the World'. But then, if Rufus had named anything specific, it would have been possible to formulate a counter-argument.

"For too long, we've cowered in their shadow, feared for our safety-- feared for our _lives_. We've let _terrorists_ dictate our way of life. But no more! It's time to reclaim our dignity."

The people roared.

"And those rich academics in their mansions, preaching doom and gloom-- one would think it was the end of the world. And yet! The sun is shining; the skies are clear."

The crowd laughed; the spring afternoon was the smoggiest day on record.

Rufus laughed too, perfectly rehearsed. "Well, maybe not today. But... I must say, maybe they _do_ have reason to fear. Maybe--" and here he paused-- "Maybe it's their own doom they sense. Maybe they realise that we will not stand for it any more!" The crowd cheered. Rufus continued, "No more extortion! No more lies! We're going to take back our world!"

Again with the 'taking back'... Where was left? Tseng supposed Fort Condor was still technically a free territory, all fifty yards of it. And there was that canyon place on the other continent; no reactor yet; population of, what, ten? That would be a shortlived military campaign. Then again, if you could rely on anyone to drag nonsense out, you could rely on Heidegger. The canyon could keep his men going for _decades…_ But no, Tseng was thinking too literally; Shinra would just fall back on the more obvious target, peace treaties be damned. It made sense, if you thought of war as a marketing exercise. Tseng had thought Shinra had moved past that, and he had invested some years… but here they were.

"We must be vigilant." Rufus thumped the podium. "Terrorists are infiltrating our society, at this very moment. They pose as your friends, your neighbours-- they might even be at this rally. I hope they are. I hope they hear me say it: you should be afraid. You should be shaking with fear. If you are _not_ afraid, then I must say..." He smiled, "You lack imagination. Hear me. Your days are numbered, and I have the support of the people-- on every continent. You can't run, and you can't hide. You are going to pay."

People cheered.

"You are going to see the true might of Shinra. But we have to work together. So. If any of you see anything suspicious, I _urge_ you to report it. Report it _now_! We're here for _your_ safety. And to that end, I am pleased to announce that there will be 20,000 new Shinra officers on patrol, across Midgar _and_ Junon. It's time to stamp this threat out. They don't share our values. They don't share our way of life. They want to destroy us." He shook his head. "No. We must resist. We _will_ resist. _We_ will destroy _them_."

More clapping. Chanting. Well, that settled it. It was time to find an excuse to pinch the chopper. Something something looking for Ancients. Leave the heroics to Reeve; Tseng had the better imagination. Mideel... there were a good few oceans between here and Mideel. Or he could try Icicle Inn. If only they would hurry up and resurrect the Shinra space program; he could catch a fucking _rocket_.

"Thank you all," Rufus repeated. "This is the dawn of a new era. An era... of fear." He smiled, and flipped his blond hair.

The crowd screamed with delight.

As Tseng slipped off the stage, and toward the bar, he idly wondered whether any asteroids were in the neighbourhood and whether they would be so kind as to smash the planet in half. Or, failing that, whether any massive monsters felt like crawling out of the nearby sea and breaking things. There were just no words for this crushing feeling, this sense of utter hopelessness.

So he had a surprisingly excellent summer.

**Author's Note:**

> I wound up with the camera placed behind Tseng for this since AVALANCHE doesn't really have anyone shrewd/cynical enough at this stage in the game.


End file.
